Navigating the digital sea: will Perrier sink or win with its latest campaign?

I drink mineral water on a daily basis, but when I’m really thirsty and want something different I enjoy a cold Perrier with a lemon slice. It’s simple, refreshing and delicious. But the brand recently introduced a more elaborate way to experience it.

Beautiful aesthetics: as soon as I entered their Tumblr site I felt like entering a world of mystique. I’m a very visual person so I was instantly seduced by its design.

Madame Perrier

Clear target audience: they are targeting Millennials, thus the social media and mobile components of the campaign are very important.

“District Perrier is an exciting new way to engage with millennial audiences and bring Perrier’s personality to life“, said Priya Shenoy, group marketing manager at Perrier. “With mobile usage so high, especially with our younger consumer base, we are looking to increase our focus on mobile this year“.

It’s all about content: the idea is to explore the “district” through the eyes of “Madame Perrier”. The campaign offers a Tumblr content hub where visitors can access content that includes DJ playlists, cocktail recipes, videos, destination guides, and five original audio narrative series with illustrations called “Tales of the District” told by a man that is mesmerized by the District Perrier hostess.

Social Media integration: the platforms in which the campaign is present make sense to target younger consumers. Each platform is used in a wise way. They started their conversation with #DistrictPerrier. They feature a “picture of the week” selected from their followers that is promoting brand engagement.

The overall tone of their social media is refreshing, cool and inviting. District Perrier is promoted on the campaign’s website and on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Digital meets real world: the purpose of the campaign is to be a party destination. Its content attempts to recreate popular worldwide nightlife hot spots. It can be enjoyed virtually through Tumblr and other digital platforms, combined with the innovative use of its mobile component to drive in-store engagement.

How their in-store engagement works: Perrier partnered with Ibotta and Blippar as an innovative way to integrate mobile branded content with in-store activation. Ibotta helps consumers to save money with cash backs. It allows Perrier shoppers to get access to savings and redeemable rewards. The Blippar app combines the use of 3D augmented reality to unlock content. It may be used by consumers to interact with exclusive content of the campaign after scanning the Perrier bottle or District Perrier logo.

Even though the campaign is amazing there might be a problem with the choice of principal platform: Tumblr.

The Tumblr community is known for being more artsy-creative and not so much as wild party animals. Millennials that want to fish for a big party or plan events usually spend more time on Facebook than on Tumblr. So maybe this might not be the right way to sail this ship. They are creating and posting the right type of content to this platform. But the problem is that the desired engagement for a big-budget brand like Perrier is not happening, at least not yet.

The social platforms, especially Twitter and Instagram, has been a success so far. But their content hub on Tumblr haven’t yet got user-generated content nor major discussions.

I like the combination of creativity and technological savviness of the campaign, along with the visual component. The correct use of social media platforms is very important and they are doing a great job on this department. But for me, Tumblr might not have been the best place to host their content hub, although it’s only been a couple of months since the campaign launched. It will be a matter of time to see if this ship arrives its destination or gets lost in the open sea.